Moscow / Caracas  - A Russian delegation arrived in Caracas Tuesday as Moscow moves to restore Soviet-era ties in South America heightening tensions with the United States already strained over the crisis in Georgia.

Two Russian, nuclear-capable bombers were carrying out exercises over the Caribbean from an air base in Venezuela on Tuesday, and the two countries plan joint naval games before the year is out.

The delegation, led by powerful Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's deputy Igor Sechin, was on day two of a regional tour that began on the communist island of Cuba.

Moscow  - Russian prosecutors launched a flight safety inquiry on Tuesday into flagship carrier Aeroflot after a crash that killed 88 people, the general prosecutor's office said.

The Aeroflot Boeing 737 crashed near Russia's Ural mountains as it readied to land in the city of Perm on a flight from Moscow. Twenty-one foreigners and seven children were among the dead.

Aeroflot said nationals of Germany, France, Switzerland, Turkey and Italy were among the victims.

London/Moscow - NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Monday said Russian plan to keep troops in Georgia's breakaway regions was "unacceptable" and "hard to swallow."

He blamed oversights in an EU-brokered peace deal for not demanding the full withdrawal of troops to their bases in Russia before the war with Georgia last month.

The NATO secretary-general made the comments in an interview with the Financial Times shortly before he travelled to Tbilisi on Monday to show the alliances openness to including Georgia.

Moscow - Russian investigators ruled out a terrorist attack as the cause of a plane crash which killed 88 people on Sunday, saying an engine fault was responsible.

An Aeroflot Nord Boeing 737 passenger jet crashed near Russia's Ural mountains as it readied to land in the city of Prem on a flight from Moscow, killing all 88 people on board, including 21 foreign nationals, early Sunday morning.

Moscow - An Aeroflot Boeing 737 passenger jet crashed near Russia's Ural mountains on Sunday, killing all 88 people on board including 21 foreign nationals.

The Russian airliner reportedly caught fire in the air and lost control as it readied to land in the city of Perm early morning Sunday.

The wreckage burned just metres from a residential community and debris blocked a section of Russia's Trans-Siberian railway.

Television showed firefighters and investigators sifting through the wreckage which was spread over about four square kilometres, officials said.

Investigators have recovered the aircraft's two black box recorders, which they hope will clarify the cause of the accident.

Moscow, Sept 14 : At least 88 people died when a Boeing-737 airliner they were flying in crashed in the Sibera region. No casualties were reported on the ground as the plane reportedly crashed in open fields.

Around 21 of those dead were foreigners.

The plane was flying from Moscow to the Siberian city of Perm when it crashed in an unpopulated area as it was landing, said the agencies, The Telegraph quoted Aeroflot as saying in a statement.

“The Boeing-737 carried 82 passengers on board, including seven children, and six crew... All passengers were killed,” added the statement.